Twelve Mile Circle – An Appreciation of Unusual Places

Tag: Loudoun

  • Silver Line Extension

    The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority opened its eleven mile Silver Line extension on November 15, 2022. I couldn’t be there on opening day but I still wanted to check out the new stations while they were relatively “new.” So I checked in with my frequent travel buddy, my older kid, and we aligned our…

  • Little Loudoun Loop

    I traveled an hour west of Washington, DC for a Loudoun Wine Adventure back in 2012. In the time since then, beverage tourism has only increased in this Northern Virginia county. Now visitors can select from about 50 vineyards, 35 breweries, and a smattering of distilleries, cideries, and meaderies within this single jurisdiction. I’m beginning…

  • Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

    Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center; Fairfax County, Virginia, USA (January 2007) The Smithsonian’s Udvar-Hazy Center provides extra room for much of their extensive aircraft and spacecraft that cannot fit into their location on the National Mall in Washington, DC. The center sits about 25 miles west of the city on the grounds of Washington-Dulles International Airport…

  • White’s Ferry

    Potomac River between Montgomery Co., MD and Loudoun Co., VA (September 2007) We arrived at the White’s Ferry landing west of Poolesville Maryland on our journey towards Virginia’s wine country and took our place in queue. A small flat-bottomed barge carried weekend explorers across the river on this sunny Saturday afternoon. The ferryboat “Jubal A.…

  • Pronounced HOW?!?

    A comment caught my attention recently on my Mainly Marathons article. “Mr. Burns” (hopefully not this one) noticed that one of the towns I mentioned was Ulysses, Kansas. He wrote, “Oh, and if you go, be sure to pronounce Ulysses as “You-liss-us”, never as “You-liss-eez”. The latter pronunciation peeves the locals.“ That’s good to know.…

  • Loudoun Wine Adventure

    Fair warning. This article is going to resemble a travelogue more than a discussion of geo-oddities. I figure I can change the rules occasionally for self-indulgent reasons so I hope you don’t mind. Come back in a couple of days if you’re more a fan of the usual content on Twelve Mile Circle. The in-laws…

  • The John McCain Flight

    DISCLAIMER: This is a geography and travel blog, not a political blog. No endorsement or disparagement is intended. Later today I get to take the John McCain flight. No, I don’t get to fly with John McCain. I’m talking about the regularly-scheduled flight that is a small part of his political legacy. An Airport on…